Merchandise container having opening means



y 1951 e. A. MOORE 2,552,340

MERCHANDISE CONTAINER HAVING OPENING MEANS Filed June 12, 1946 INVENTOR, GEO/F65 ARLINGTON MOORE Patented May 8, 1951 MERCHANDISE CONTAINER HAVING OPENING MEANS George Arlington Moore, New York, N. Y.., assignor' to Reynolds Metals Company, Richmond, Va, a corporation of Delaware Application June 1.2, 1946, Serial No. 676,280

2 Claims. (Cl. 22951) This invention relates to containers for merchandise and has for its object the provision. of an improved container, especially .for enclosing and protecting more or less regular and uniform articles of merchandise which collectively form a rectangular package. The invention provides a completely sealed container which effectively protectsthe merchandise from dryness, moisture, mold, etc... but which may be opened without mutilation and reclosed in a manner to offer good protection for the articles of merchandise left in the container- In one of its aspects the invention provides a blank of sheet material constructed and proportioned to form the container of the invention.

The blanks of sheet material are so proportioned, creased or cut that they may be folded around a group of articles of merchandise and sealed by mechanical means. One of the characteristic and important features of my invention is the provision of a closure for the, container by means of which the. container maybe opened and closed repeatedly. The cover comprises inner and outer overlying flaps with means for adhesively sealing the flaps together in. such a manner that the outer flap. may be peeled off the inner flap without mutilating either flap. I provide the flaps with lines of weakness", for example perforations, by means of which the flaps may be partly severed from the remainder of the container on the initial opening. I arrange these lines, with respect to the flaps, so that they .are covered when the container is sealed to. prevent filtration through the perforations and. impairment of the merchandise. The flaps are folded along opposite corner edges of the container which serve as hinges and the perforations are normal to the hinges. The sealing of the outer flap to the inner flap is such as to leave a free lip which may be grasped in the. fingers. to peel the flap back, severing it along the linesfioi weakness which are preferably coincident with. end corners of the container. The exposed; inner flap may be pulled in the opposite direction. severing it from the container along the lines of Weakness which are spaced inside the said end corners. These. flaps cooperate with each other in reclosing the package; for example, the flaps may be brought face-to-face and rolled over each other, or they may be pressedfintotheir'original.

positions, in which case the outer. flap at the hinge bears against the free edge of the inner flap pressing it over the opening. Non-resilient. material, such as soft sheet aluminum. will remain in its closed position.

The blanks. may be made of any suitable sheet material such as metal foil, metal sheets, composite sheets of paper and metal foil, glassine paper, waxed paper, resinous or plastic sheets, and the like. There are advantages in the way of lightness in weight, imperviousness, stability, strength, appearance, permanence, etc. in the use of aluminum sheets and I shall, accordingly, describe my invention as formed from aluminum sheets. In order to effect a simple and positive sealing of the container, I prefer to use sheet aluminum coated over the surfaces with a suitable heat sealing lacquer, such as plasticized vinylite, ethyl cellulose, or nitrocellulose. While I may coat the entire surface with a heat sealing material, I may also apply the sealing material in pattern form to cover only those areas which overlap in the folding of the blank and require sealing. One of the features of my invention is the sealing of the cover flaps along narrow overlapping strips. In this manner I can seal the flaps adequately but also leave them in a condition readily openable without mutilation. The width of the sealing strips with regard to the adhesive properties of the sealing medium provides flaps that may be pulled apart, as by peeling the top flap backward. The perforated lines on the outer flaps are parallel and, advantageously, lie along the end corners of the container but filtration therethrough cannot occur because these lines lie over the inner flap. The perforated lines ofthe'inner flap are offset inwardly from the perforated lines of the outer flap, are covered by the outer flap, and sealed by the strips of adhesive. When the inner flap is pulled open and severed along its lines of weakness, end portions of the sheet material comprising the inner top closure are left which support the container at the opening, maintaining its shape and form and permitting the use of very lightweight sheets.

Containers of the invention have several economic advantages over containers heretofore proposed for packaging groups of such more or less rectangularly shaped articles as cigarettes, bars of soap, cheese, etc. In the first place, a group of. such articles, also rectangular, may be packaged by wrapping and sealing the blanks of the invention in automatic mechanical operations of well known types. I am able to eliminate the usual carton and itsexterior wrapping, thereby saving space. weight and one packaging operation. By an appropriate selection of sheet material, I may hermetically seal the container and protect the merchandise from dryness, moisture, mold, fungus, etc.- Instead of destroying the container as is now done in opening single sheet packages, the purchaser may open the package without injuring it, remove one of the articles and reclose the package, protecting the remaining articles of merchandise. My container is thin, requiring less space, and is light in weight, giving low shipping costs. The container of the invention is especially advantageous for shipment by air freight and into the remote tropical regions where dampness and heat impose severe conditions on the protection of the merchandise.

My package is admirably suitable for packaging small groups of articles, such as four to six packages of cigarettes, a few bars of cheese or candy and the like for vacationing, where a limited supply is to be consumed piecemeal while protecting the articles left in the container.

These and other novel features of my invention will be better understood after considering the following discussions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is the plan view of a blank of sheet material in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective showing an initial step in the wrapping of the blank of Fig. 1 around a group of articles of merchandise;

Fig. 3 is a perspective of a package showing the completely formed and sealed container of the invention Fig. 4 is a perspective showing the top flap open;

Fig. 5 is a perspective showing both flaps open for the withdrawal of an item of merchandise;

Fig. 6 is a perspective of a package of the invention showing the flaps rolled together to reclose the package, and

Fig. 7 is a sectional enlargement showing the sealing of the closure flaps.

I The blank of sheet material shown in Fig. 1 is formed, for example of a sheet of aluminum of from 0.001 to 0.002 inch thick, and is constructed and proportioned to make a container of the invention. Any of the commercially available types of pure aluminum or aluminum alloys may single rolls which are used to feed a wrapping 75 machine, such as a machine known as a Bundle Wrapper. The narrow strips of foil fed into the machine can be embossed by means of embossing rolls, registered and cut off at each machine cycle for supplying the individual wrapper to the group of items of mechandise to be wrapped. The blank shown in Fig. l is usually integral with other similar blanks in sheet form and may exist only as an individual blank momentarily between the time it is cut ofi and the wrapping operation.

The blanks are preferably, although not necessarily, score lined along the edges which define the formed container. The blank illustrated comprises two parallel longitudinal score lines I and lie outside the lines i and 2. Along, or as an extension of the score lines I and 2, I deeply perforate the sheets to form lines of weakness 20 and 2 I. These perforated lines and score line 4 define,

in panel 6, the outer flap closure 22. At the opposite end of the blank in panel 5, the parallel and deeply perforated lines of weakness 23 and 24 are formed just inside and parallel to the score lines I and 2. These perforated lines and score line 3 define the inside flap closure 25.

1 Fig. 2 shows 'five more or less rectangular and similarly shaped items of merchandise, such as packages of cigarettes, placed upon the bottom panel [0 as a preliminary step in the operation of a conventional bundle wrapper.

Fig. 3 shows the wrapped and sealed package. The wrapped package was passed between heating units to heat seal the folded ends [4 and $5. The panels 5 and 6 with their flap closures 22 and 25 are suitably sealed in the operation as by means usually used for sealing the longitudinal overlapping edges of such packages. I may advantageously use a heating unit formed to make the narrow sealing strips S shown as stippling in Figs. 3 and 7. These sealing strips overlie the perforations 23 and 2d completely sealing the openings and are arranged to leave a free edge or 1ip.26 unsealed. Although the strips seal the inner and outer closure flaps together, they may be pulled apart without injury to the flaps be.- cause of the nature of the adhesive, the tensile strength of the sheet material, and the small area of the strips. As best shown in Fig. 7, the edge portion 26 or unsealed lip may be grasped in the fingers to peel the outer flap 22 back from the inner flap'25. Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 show the package turned end-for-end from the position shown'in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 shows the outer fiap 22 in its pulled-back position exposing the inner fiap 25. In peeling flap 22 back, the flap becomes severed along lines 20 and 2| from the remainder of the blank. The score line 4 forms a sort of hinge for flap 22. By grasping the free edge of flap 25, it may be pulled to the position shown in Fig. 5 by severance along the lines of weakness 23 and 24.

Fig. 5 illustrates a very important feature of the invention. It will be noted that portions of panel 5 along the lines 23 and 24 in the form of short end panels 21 and 23 remain in position and secure the panels H and I2 in binding contact against the merchandise, thereby maintaining the form and shape of the container. This is an important feature of the invention because it provides fairly stable packages of thin material that would otherwise be quite flimsy. Fig. 5 shows how the items of merchandise may be removed, and Fig. 6 shows how the container can .be reclosed to protect the remaining contents of the package. In reclosing, as in Fig. 6, the two flaps are brought face-to-face and rolled over each other to form the roll closure 35. When using a container formed of a soft non-resilient metal, like soft aluminum, the container may be closed by simply folding the flaps back to their original positions. The top flap 22 bears on the free end of flap 25 near the hinge of line i and holds it closed.

I have described and illustrated a container having lines of weakness 2E? and 2! spaced near or along the end closure fold lines 1 and 2. I may place them inward. For example, I may arrange them closer to the lines of weakness 23 and 24. This latter construction gives added reenforcement of the container after it has been opened;

I claim: 1. A container formed of sheet material of 16 more or less rectangular shape comprising bottom and side panels and folded and sealed end closures, an inner top panel about the size of the bottom panel, said inner top panel being folded over from a side panel along a line, two spaced lines of weakness having perforations spaced inward from the end closures extending across the inner top panel from the free edge to the fold line, an inner flap closure defined by the free edge, the fold line and the lines of weakness, an outer top panel connected along fold lines to the end closures and to one of the side panels, lines of weakness in the outer top panel which with the free edge and fold line along the side panel define an outer flap closure, said lines of weakness in the outer top panel being spaced outward from the lines of weakness of the inner top panel whereby said lines of weakness are staggered in the sealed container and an adhesive material sealing the top closures together which overlies and completely seals the perforations, said adhesive being such as to yield when the outer flap closure is pulled open and severed along its lines of weakness.

2. A container blank formed of sheet material which comprises rectangular bottom and side panels and end closures, an inner closure panel embracing a free edge of the blank and having two parallel spaced and perforated lines of weakness spaced inward from the end closures and 6 extending across the panel, the edge of the inner closure, the two lines of weakness and a side panel defining an inner flap closure, an outer panel closure embracing the opposite free edge of the panel with two spaced lines of weakness coincident with the common boundaries of the outer closure panel and the end closures, said lastmentioned lines of weakness, free edge and other side panel defining an outer flap closure, and a heat sealing adhesive material on the sheet for sealing the end closures and the inner and outer flap closures and the perforations, when said blank is folded into a container the closure panels become superposed with the lines of weakness staggered and sealed.

GEORGE ARLINGTON MOORE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS- Number Name Date 2,114,134 Weiss Apr. 12, 1938 2,124,868 Davidson July 26, 1938 2,186,973 Hothersall Jan. 16, 1940 2,318,101 Rose May 4, 1943 2,343,222 Nelson Feb. 29, 1944 

